A pair of Moberly High School sophomore girls are North Central Missouri Conference champions in their respective track & field events and other Spartans athletes finished within the top three to take home all-conference honors at the track meet held last Friday at Mexico High School.

Verné Holt won the girls shot put with a heave of 35-04 feet, and Molly Greene is the NCMC girls pole vault champion with her reach of 11 ft. as the duo highlighted the finishes accomplished by the Moberly varsity program.

“Verné has been really consistent throwing around 34 feet all season Molly in the girls pole vault is another one who has been consistent. That is what I want our athletes to do is to try and be as consistent in what they are doing all year through, and by the time the last couple of track meets come up and entering the district meet to be able to run faster, or to add some inches farther with their jump or throws,” said Moberly varsity track head coach Tony Stoneking.

In the team standings, the Spartans finished in the middle of the back.

Hannibal won the NCMC girls team championship with 154 points, 28 better than second place Mexico. Kirksville had 124 for third place and they were followed by Moberly 115, Boonville 76, Fulton 69 and Marshall had 64.

“We moved some of our athletes to different events in hopes of gaining a better place in the team standings at conference and to see how some of them might perform. Although we finished as a team in about the middle for both boys and girls, I'm pleased in what we did considering how young really are in both the boys and girls teams. We are mostly freshmen and sophomores.

“I tell my kids all year that we want to use our practices and track meets leading up to the conference track meet as glorified practices.During the season we move kids around to compete at a variety of events as part of their overall corps training and to learn if they may compete well in some of those events,” said Spartans track coach Stoneking. “Our goal is to work towards getting as many kids as we can to earn all-conference honors, perform their best at the end of the season and to finish in the top four at districts and then qualify as many as we can to the track state championships.”

Moberly junior Keiasiah Mozee had a busy day by competing in four events and she ended up scoring team points in each of them for placing within the top eight. In two of those events, Mozee placed within the top three, and in doing so she earned all-NCMC honors.

“This is my first time in about two years since I've run the 100 dash, and I felt that I did really good and believe if I probably could have done better if I had more time to practice on this than I had before (Friday). I like the 400 and believe it's my best event, but there is a difference running the 100 in that you must run at your best and at a high level from start to finish so it takes a whole lot of energy in just a short span of time,” Mozee said. “I started running the 400 last year and liked it. I like to sprint out the first 50 meters, stride it out the next 300 and then sprint it out again as hard as I can to the finish.”

“Keiasiah ran really well in both the 100 and 400 and then she was in the long jump, but I could tell in the 200 she was not at her best and was tired. That's because she hasn't been able to work out the past couple of weeks and she was a bit worn down in her fourth event of the day yet I was proud of her,” added coach Stoneking.

Mozee was second best in the girls 400m dash with a season best time of 1:03.91 minutes and took third in 100m dash at 13.41 seconds. She also earned team points with her fourth place leap in the long jump (15-04.50) and in 200m dash for finishing eighth (28.68).

There were three open events that Moberly athletes earned all-NCMC honors as well. Sophomore Quincy Reynolds was third in the javelin with her throw of 82-11 ft., freshman Isabella Ross in the girls 800m run with a time of 2:35.51, and in the discus junior Sydney Baughman had a throw of 90-01 ft.

“I'm especially proud of Quincy Reynolds and her throws in the javelin and she was good enough to earn all-conference. She has been working very hard these last two years and has gotten better every meet. Quincy is someone what will be among the last to leave the field when practice ends because she is out there throwing and throwing,” Stoneking said. “ She has a desire to look for ways that she can improve her throws and works hard at it.”

The Lady Spartans 100m relay team consisting of freshmen Claire Billington and Ashton Martin, sophomore Mary Billington and junior Alexis Brown finished third with a season best time of 54.08 seconds.

Two other relay teams also received all-NCMC honors. The 400m unit of Ross, Cheyenne Lea, Martin and Madison Wooten was third (4:38.48); and the 800m relay group of Ross, Dalton, Tessa Jackson and Hannah Hardy was third with a season best time of 10:51.97.

“I was happy with all four of our girls' relays and we got three of them through winning all-conference while one of them finished fourth which was pretty good. In our girls 4x400 we had to substitute Madison Wooten for Molly Greene to run one of the legs because at the time of the call for this event, Molly was still competing in the pole vault. We were seeded third and we got third and I'm proud of Madison stepping in at the last moment to run with this group and they did very well.”

Here is a look at other Moberly girls that finished within the top eight of their events. To view the results of all participating athletes at the conference meet visit the website trxctiming.com.

Fourth Place: Ross in the 1600m (5:42.95). The 200m relay group of Brown, Mary Billington, Martin and Greene took fourth (1:57.38).

Fifth Place: Kati Dalton in the 3200m (13:27.52), Siann Goon in the high jump (4-05), Sara Slater in the triple jump (31-08.50), Hillary Bloss in the shot put (30-08)

Sixth Place: Dalton in the 1600m run (6:04.96), Rylee Stone in the 100m hurdles (19.50), Samantha Calvert in the 300m hurdles (56.84).

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